What symptoms overlap in Fibromyalgia and Multiple Sclerosis?
Public Comments
1. There is a number of conditions that overlap in symptomsFibromyalgia, Multiple Sclerosis, Lupus, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and a few others.
But most common is the fatigue, and weakness, pain, abdominal upsets (including IBS), body temperature regulation, cognitive function (memory, inattention etc).
2. i have both, and i almost would rather have the ms...because the FMS NEVER goes away. the pain is RELENTLESS. 24 / 7!! the MS at least backs off......
however, it is terminal, and FMS isnt.....:( although in a way, FMS is a LIFE sentence, not only to us but to our loved ones.
I AM : :
THE THIEF OF MANY LIVES!!!!
by Kathleen Houghton
I'm constantly on the prowl in search of new victims. I do not
discriminate---health care workers, teachers, students, airline personnel,
teens, moms, dads, and innocent children are my prey.
If you are dynamic and have a lust for life, I will find you.
Just when you are at the peak of your endeavours, climbing that career
ladder
or building your family and home, I will find you.
There is nothing that you have in your life today that I am not
capable of destroying tomorrow, your career, your education, your gaols,
your dreams, your family and your life. I will have it all. I will strip you
of your ability to function at any level
above minimal, and from this day on you will refer to that as a "good day".
I have the ability to create an invalid out of you overnight, and I will. It
will take a marathon effect for you just to get out of bed. At a cellular
level your immune system will be in a constant war battling itself and
unnamed viruses, which will painfully be replicating in your brain. I
promise you, I will bring you despair along with pain, isolation and losses
far beyond what you can ever image.
Your mind will be in a constant "fogged" state, your expression will be
unable to express, and your eyes will have a noticeable "glazed over/drugged
out" look. You will find it most difficult to pay attention, concentrate,
or even process the simplest of thoughts. Making change from a dollar may
well be beyond your ability now. Your mouth may feel like it is full of
marbles when you when try to speak, as your tongue twists and nothing you
try to say comes out right. Who would believe your level of education when
you can't even string enough words together to make a complete sentence.or
one that makes any sense for that matter.
I promise, I will bring you at any unsuspecting time, severe abdominal pain,
nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea along with a host of gastrointestinal
disorders. I will make you weak and lifeless as one could be without being
confirmed dead. You will be housebound or in bed for several years if not
the rest of your life. As part of incapacitating you, I will make your heart
race and your head pound; your throat will constantly be sore and your lymph glands will swell. That will all seem trivial after I inflame and spasm
muscles throughout your body. Crushing a grape between your fingers may take too much energy or be too painful now.
On those nights that I allow you to sleep, you will awaken drenched with
sweat or throbbing with pain. Perhaps I might even throw in a little seizure
activity. On those nights that I do not allow sleep to occur; I will torture
you with thoughts of death...Not suicide, but death. Simply because you have
not come to realize that this is your new life, and that you are not living.
You will need to re-create your being every day, as every day I will bring
you unpredicted symptoms and suffering.
I have also done a few things that you may not be aware of yet. I placed
some lesions on your brain (have you noticed how you have difficulty with balance and memory yet?) and I permanently altered your immune system. I have shorted out your nervous system so that you have intermittent numbness and tingling, which might resemble an electrical current zapping you from time. This is called neuropathy.
Nope, it's not curable either!!
Now I have you. I have taken over your body and mind. I have stolen your
life but left you alive, not very functional, but by clinical definition you are
still alive.
Your family will not be able to give all the constant care that you need on
a daily basis. As for your friends, well, they're still on that ladder
climbing up.
Rest assured, I am looking for them too. By now, chances are good that most of family and friends have abandoned you, so you must have learned the definition of isolation. This newfound isolation will save you from having to explain how sick you really are to others, they won't understand anyway. Isolation will save you all that energy.
Your health insurance has already been or will shortly be discontinued as
you lost your job from not being able to "keep up".
Perhaps you got caught dozing off or called in sick one too many times. Now that you are no longer employable or insurable, when you seek medial care, any medical professional that figures me out will diagnose you and say that what you have is presently not curable.
Now it is time for you to seek out medial care, nation if not worldwide.
However, most "so called" medial professionals will not even have the ability to recognize me when they see me, as they have not learned about me in medical school. So, chances are good that you will be misdiagnosed. You will give more blood samples and have more examinations then you ever imagined existed. Then you can take the results to dozens of doctors in search of a diagnosis. One that is valid as well as socially and medically acceptable. One that does not label you as depressed or say
that "it's all in your head!!!"
Most doctors will suggest a vacation, weight loss or weight gain diet, new or increased love life, help with the children, or change of scenery as the "cure", mainly because you may look like the PICTURE OF HEALTH. This is my mask of deception.
You will pray for a positive word from current research. Research, which you
will soon learn, is quite limited due to lack of funding and government support.
You will learn new vocabulary which contains words like: T-Cells, Cytokines, Nuclear Antigens,
Natural Killer Cells, Immunoglobulins, Cytomegalovirus, Serotonin, Cerebral
lesions,
and Immune Dysfunction are among a few. However the most important words that you will need to know and fight for are Social Security Disability and Medicare.
At one point I may give you a false sense of recovery or remission. Let me assured you,
I will be back, as you are my prisoner and that makes me your keeper. I have placed the lives of millions of people nationwide in limbo, I continue to do the same world wide.
I would consider this epidemic, wouldn't you?
Eventually I will bring the government, health care workers, and society to
their knees in search of unravelling my complexities, which are crippling humanity. I leave it up you,
my victims, and your caretakers, to educate the public and let them know
that I am very real and that you are very very sick. Unfortunately, I have been given a totally ridiculous name, which will make your job even more difficult. Until that name is changed,
I am :
FIBROMYALGIA (FMS)
